New winter circus coming to Navy Pier

Navy Pier has booked a locally produced circus for a week in February.

Dubbed "Windy City Circus," the all-new show will be staged in the Grand Ballroom Feb. 17-26. A Pier spokesman said that the show will be themed around Chicago, and feature "guest appearances" by notables in the city's history, ranging from Mrs. O'Leary to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Most of the ticket income (but not the parking fee) reportedly will go to charity.

The show will be helmed by David Mass (once the ringmaster at the Big Apple Circus and, with his wife, the creator of a notable quick-change act). The show is designing a colorful indoor environment for the one-ring circus, which will feature a variety of local and national acts and will seat all its audience members within 50 feet of the action.